Announced today, Microsoft has moved Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin to general availability. The company made the announcement on its Azure blog as it continues to build up Xamarin integrations. Microsoft purchased the mobile app development platform earlier in the year. Xamarin has since been made available for free through Visual Studio.

Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin brings more functionality to the service. It gives developers a way to integrate their creations into Microsoft’s mobile-first, cloud-first environment. Microsoft says the new abilities were created based on feedback from the Azure Storage for Xamarin Preview phase. The company has detailed all the information and sources on GitHub.

Xamarin became the umbrella for Microsoft’s various bridge tools to help port apps more easily from one platform to another. The service gives developer tools to create iOS, Android, and Windows 10 will universal UI. This is achieved through a shared C# codebase. The idea is it gives dev’s an easy way to port their existing apps to Microsoft’s services.

In its blog post, Microsoft says:

“The sources for the Xamarin release are the same as the Azure Storage .Net client library and can be found on Github. The installable package can be downloaded from nuget (version 7.2 and beyond) or from Azure SDK (version 2.9.5 and beyond) and installed via the Web Platform installer. This generally available release supports all features up to and included in the 2015-12-11 REST version.”

Getting Started

The company adds that getting Azure Storage Client Library for Xamarin up and running is easy. In its post, the following three-step guide is offered to developers:

Install Xamarin SDK and tools and any language specific emulators as necessary: For instance, you can install the Android KitKat emulator.

Create a new Xamarin project and install the Azure Storage nuget package version 7.2 or higher in your project and add Storage specific code.

Compile, build and run the solution. You can run against a phone emulator or an actual device. Likewise you can connect to the Azure Storage service or the Azure Storage emulator.

Luke has been writing about all things tech for more than five years. He is following Microsoft closely to bring you the latest news about Windows, Office, Azure, Skype, HoloLens and all the rest of their products.